(ROBERT) KAPLAN: THE NOTHING THAT IS — The Sumerians wrote by pressing... the tip of a hollow reed into wet clay tablets, which were then preserved by baking. Masses of these... survive from those... remote days;... computer punchcards [from] the [Sixties] largely do not.
| A. | German composer who wrote for Lotte Lenya (2 wds.) | KURTWEILL |
| B. | Winner of the U.S. Women's Open in 1980 (2 wds.) | AMYALCOTT |
| C. | Spectacle of August 12 or thereabouts | PERSEIDS |
| D. | Crucial and revealing experiment (2 wds.) | LITMUSTEST |
| E. | Alternative to rammed earth | ADOBE |
| F. | Author of 1783's best-selling "Blue-Backed Speller" (2 wds.) | NOAHWEBSTER |
| G. | University of Maryland team, informally | TERPS |
| H. | Revenge-driven lover in a Bronte novel | HEATHCLIFF |
| I. | Houdini (2 wds.) | ERICHWEISS |
| J. | Historic city on the Volkhov River that once rivaled Moscow | NOVGOROD |
| K. | Subject of King Theodoric | OSTROGOTH |
| L. | Middle Ages minstrel of France | TROUVERE |
| M. | One who sees the future in animal entrails | HARUSPEX |
| N. | Notable features of Mars | ICECAPS |
| O. | Character type often portrayed by Woody Allen | NEBBISH |
| P. | Trainer and tutor in the home | GOVERNESS |
| Q. | Figurative use of words | TROPE |
| R. | Author of "84, Charing Cross Road" (2 wds.) | HELENEHANFF |
| S. | Frequent painter of Helga Testorf (2 wds.) | ANDREWWYETH |
| T. | 1969 so-called "concept album" or 1975 film | TOMMY |
| U. | The 13th or 15th, to old Romans | IDES |
| V. | What an Acrostic diagram will probably never have | SYMMETRY |